The Achievement Junkie

When the party appeared on the magma floor, they were instantly hit with a wave of dry, face-melting heat. Sweat was leaking from their brows before they had realized what floor they were on.

"Welcome to the magma floor, everybody," Jack joked with a sigh. "Dradich, are you going to be okay here?"

In response to Jack's question, frost started to fill the air around the wyrm. It cooled the party and allowed them all relief from the overbearing heat but it never managed to form the icy armor they had seen before.

"If you hop off my back for a moment, then I can create my frost body to better protect you and myself," Dradich stated, getting everyone to comply.

A few moments later, everyone was back on top of the wyrm, glad to be cool and comfortable in the face of the heat.

"Let's be fast though. I can't sustain this forever in such a place," added Dradich.

"Then let's hurry southbound. The circle is at the southernmost point of the dungeon," explained Jack. "But everyone needs to watch out for enemies. This floor was usually the most difficult to clear in terms of combat because everything here wants a fight."

"Careful! Here they come!" Dradich roared and began his charge into the flaming dungeon.

Everyone looked out to see beasts that they weren't familiar with.

"I guess the fiends won the power struggle on this floor," mentioned Jack. "I wonder if any salamanders survived."

"Fiends? Do you mind if I take a fiend, Jack?" asked Vixus. "I've never met one before and heard that they have ties with dark magic as well."

"You're right, that's probably how they overwhelmed the salamanders and other beasts down here," replied Jack. "Capturing a fiend is one thing, but getting it to comply with a seal is another."

"Just help me catch one that's at least lv. 60. Then, if I fail to bond with it, let me fail."

"It will still count as your third beast, so don't blame me when we can't subdue it," chuckled Jack, readying himself for the horde of fiends following Dradich.

Squeals and screeches echoed off the cavern walls, getting louder and louder as the fiends got closer and closer. With bony limbs and wings, the blackish-red, devilish creatures hounded the Glacier Wyrm.

"Dradich, if me or Bowzer use our flame bodies, will we hurt you?"

"Just don't hit me by accident. I can take the heat of you standing on my back," replied the wyrm, confident in his abilities.

Jack then surrounded himself in flames and used them to cast his spells. "Bowzer, not full-size but full strength, okay?"

With a nod, Bowzer activated his flame body to match Jack's size while maintaining his coat of white-hot fire. Both Jack and Bowzer began to hurl or spit fireballs at any fiends getting too close. Though it didn't deal much damage, it was enough to buffet the fiends and keep them distanced. And being on the magma floor made it easier to use fire magic and not waste extra mana.

The other able party members joined in. The cranes who weren't carrying the cripples launched blades of wind at the fiends while Phoro launched small whirlwinds at the devils. Vixus and Argyle both activated a few of their long-range attacks to help keep the fiends at bay.

"Jack, something else is lying in wait up ahead."

Dradich's warning caught Jack's ears, convincing the hero to turn his attention elsewhere.

At the same time, Vixus shouted, "There's one! Let that lv. 63 fiend through, I want him!"

While the party was focused on keeping the fiends back and Vixus wrestled a fiend with the help of his Flame Tiger, Jack and Dradich were waiting for the other beast to make an appearance.

Suddenly, a giant roar filled the cavern, coming from the southwest.

Out of a lava pool emerged a giant lizard, glaring back at the party and the fiends with fury. Dark red flames showed themselves as the lizard opened its mouth.

"Nevermind, the salamanders are still alive!" Jack shouted, a bit nervous to take on another powerful foe along with the fiends.

"Hold on!"

Just as the Molten Salamander spewed a plume of lava toward the giant wyrm, Dradich spitted a plume of ice and frost. An explosion of steam shook the dungeon floor, creating large waves in the lava pools along the sides of the path.

Once the attacks collided, Dradich then sped up. With all of his might, he charged the winding path and put all of his energy into his frost body.

Another giant salamander emerged, then another.

Even if Dradich could avoid the attacks of a single salamander, the giant wyrm was unable to do so against five salamanders while carrying the party on his back.

Dradich evaded as many attacks as possible and countered any attacks he was able, but he still received a few attacks against his frost body. However, Dradich never slowed down and continued to barrel through the dungeon floor with great haste.

Luckily, the salamanders also attacked the fiends who dared enter their territory. And Vixus was lucky enough to capture a fiend, albeit still wild and unwilling to remain pinned by the Flame Tiger.

"Is that it?"

"Yes, keep going, Dradich!" Jack shouted. "Bowzer, help handle the salamanders!"

The fox was already spewing white fireballs to counter the lava plumes of the salamanders. The other beasts and Argyle were doing the same thing, doing everything in their power to keep the salamanders from touching the wyrm that dared to charge through the magma floor.

Another explosion then took place, but not from steam.

To the side of the circle, another salamander appeared, the largest of the salamanders and highest in level at lv. 69.

"Jack, get ready to activate the circle without any hesitation. I'll attack that beast with everything I've got left, so don't miss the chance to flee this space."

"Vixus, you heard Dradich, right?" Jack shouted. "You'd better be ready to activate that circle. The moment Dradich touches it, we need to get out of here."

"Right! I'll be ready to go, just help me with the fiend once we enter the next floor," replied Vixus, nodding in agreement.

With a roar, the largest salamander readied his attack.

"Bowzer, let loose everything against that attack! We need Dradich to hit the salamander, not its attack."

'You got it!'

The Hell-flame Fox grew slightly as he jumped onto the top of Dradich's head and stared back at the salamander. Bowzer knew the salamander could sense his bloodline, but it also shrugged off the bloodline's typical effects like the Glacier Wyrms, proving that it too had an ancient bloodline at the seventh level.

Showing no mercy, the salamander's flame-filled maw opened wide and launched a massive river of lava out of the Molten Salamander's gullet.

Bowzer growled and snarled as his flames gained a hint of blackness. Then, the fox roared. A relentless stream of white flames, with tinges of red and black, streaked toward the salamander.

Both attacks collided, canceling each other out and making wave after wave in the nearby lava pools.

As Bowzer's flame body rescinded, the frosty energy in Dradich's mouth exploded full-force. Like a laser, the current of sub-zero ice barraged against the salamander, causing it to cry in pain as a part of the magma coating encompassing the salamander's body became crust and dried up.

"Now, Jack!" yelled the wyrm.

"Vixus, get ready!"

The wyrm continued his charge toward the circle as the salamander recovered from the attack.

Cracking and flowing anew, the lava coating around the salamander would be reactive in a couple of seconds, not offering the party much time. It prepared a second attack for the wyrm, not daring to surrender or showing any fear.

Yet as the next river of lava was aimed at the wyrm, the gargantuan beast suddenly disappeared. Only a giant pulse of purple energy was left where the wyrm once was.